Upon releasing its list of the world's 500 largest corporations (based on each company's respective fiscal years ending on or before March 31, 2013), Fortune revealed that BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) is Australia's top ranked company when measured by revenue, coming in at 115 worldwide.
Having recorded a revenue of US$72.2 billion, the company exceeded seven other Australian companies that made it to the top 500, including the big four banks, Telstra (ASX: TLS) and supermarket conglomerates Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) and Woolworths (ASX: WOW).
It was the world's largest oil companies however, that really dominated the list. Whilst the price of crude oil remained above US$100 per barrel for most of the year through to March, six oil companies made it to the top 10, including Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A; RDS-B) – which was the highest ranked company, recording US$481.7 billion in revenues – Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and British Petroleum.
However, whilst Royal Dutch Shell managed to return a profit of US$26.6 billion, Exxon took the honor of being named the most profitable organisation, returning a profit of $44.9 billion. Following closely behind Exxon was tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which recorded $41.7 billion in revenue – enough to silence at least a few skeptical investors.
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Motley Fool contributor Ryan Newman does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
